Several [congresscritters claim]…that climate change…could…drive poor women to “transactional sex”…The resolution, from Rep. Barbara Lee…and a dozen other Democrats, says…”[F]ood insecure women with limited socioeconomic resources may be vulnerable to situations such as sex work, transactional sex, and early marriage that put them at risk for HIV, STIs, unplanned pregnancy, and poor reproductive health”…

“Vulnerable to sex work” may be an even more agency-annihilating phrase than “prostituted woman”.

…a number of [recent] conversations around sex work, autonomy and feminism…trotted out the tired idea that sex work degrades and harms all women…I have a number of [sex worker] friends and acquaintances…and I’m tired of seeing their lives denigrated because of how they choose to make money…Demonising sex workers under the guise of “helping” them is simply a way of expressing puritanical snobbery…[and] relies more on myths and prejudices than any real knowledge…

Western Australia’s war on whores continues: “The City of Vincent is considering a high-tech surveillance system that captures…licence plate information to help track kerb crawlers…mayor Alannah MacTiernan said…statistics proved more needed to be done to stamp out street prostitution and protect residents…she…also wants to name and shame people convicted of soliciting…” Obviously, there is no actual crime in Vincent.

…Sex work…is one of the few areas…that allows the worker a wide variety of choices in how…where…and when they work. It…provides a relatively good [cash]…return…for those…with few choices or…who need to make money quickly and anonymously…This…is…why sex work survives and flourishes no matter how [persecuted it is]…

This article starts by claiming that “Police have a growing fear about the spread of human trafficking” due to “the growth of gambling in Maryland”. But the text (which reads more like a Salvation Army screed than a news item) is about the cops “rescuing” a hooker by deceiving her, arresting her and abducting her children so she can be “saved from selling her body.” After reading that, I feel I need to wash my eyeballs.

Harsh public registration laws often punish youth sex offenders for life and do little to protect public safety, Human Rights Watch said in…Raised on the Registry: The Irreparable Harm of Placing Children on Sex Offender Registries in the US…the laws…[make] them targets for harassment, humiliation, and even violence…[and] severely restrict where, and with whom [they] may live, work, attend school, or even spend time…Human Rights Watch interviewed 281 youth sex offenders, whose median age at offense was 15, across 20 states, as well as hundreds of offenders’ family members, defense attorneys, prosecutors, judges, law enforcement officials, experts on the topic, and victims of child-on-child sexual assault…Numerous studies estimate the recidivism rate among children who commit sexual offenses to be between 4 and 10 percent, compared with a 13 percent rate for adult sex offenders and a national rate of 45 percent for all crimes…

“Monica Contreras went to family court with her 2-year-old daughter in August 2011….on a routine divorce case”, but as she was leaving the Las Vegas courtroom Ron Fox, a bailiff-like cop called a “marshal”, ordered her into an anteroom (supposedly for a “drug search”) and groped her. She went back into the courtroom and complained to the presiding official, Patricia Donninger, who literally ignored her; Fox then had her arrested for “false allegations made against a police officer.” Nothing was done until the video below was discovered and publicized by KLAS-TV; Fox was fired but is suing to get his job back, and Donninger is being investigated.

…the United States may have been giving special treatment to major powers China, Russia, and India…[and] let even Uzbekistan off the hook…because of the repressive nation’s cooperation in getting supplies to American troops in Afghanistan…Iraq and Thailand too have seen their potential ranking downgrades delayed while Vietnam has won a premature ranking boost…due to strategic considerations…legislators and ex-state officials charged at a U.S. congressional hearing…

This story is noteworthy in that the quoted cop, while still buying the “gypsy whores” myth, only exaggerates the coercion rate by a factor of about 5 instead of the typical 45 or 50:

…beneath the pageantry, sport and spectacle, Kentucky Derby time is also the darkest hour for victims of human trafficking. “We have high rates,” said Gretchen Hunt…[of] the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs…the phenomenon…accompanies other major sporting events in the United States, an influx of men willing to pay for sex. Sgt. Andre Bottoms, of the Louisville…Police…estimates about ten percent of hundreds of prostitutes in Louisville this week are being forced or coerced…

For the past five years, Lyon has enforced bylaws prohibiting the parking of prostitutes’ trucks in much of the city, forcing them into the Gerland industrial district. The city has now issued orders to prohibit this as well, but the girls stayed…Karen, their spokeswoman, reaffirmed that they would not leave despite “unprecedented” police operations: “We are forced to stay. There was nowhere to go. When you try to move to other parts of Greater Lyon…you are immediately driven out by the police.” Since March 19, the…police have patrolled the area three to four times a week…to enforce the bylaw…and…discourage the clients…the mayor says she is not seeking “the eradication of prostitution” in Gerland…[but claims she has had] a “flood” of complaint letters from local businesses…the police are also continuing to use the offense of passive soliciting to “identify trafficking networks and pimps”…[despite the fact that] the Senate repealed the offense on March 29…

Sex workers…demanded representation in all policy making bodies…dealing with them. “People who make laws don’t know anything about our issues, concerns and why we do this work. So, policy making bodies must have our representatives,” said a participant from Ajmer…[they] also…rooted for self regulatory boards like Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) in Kolkata and Ashodhaya in Mysore to check violence in sex work and trafficking…

…a sex-education book…in Berlin elementary schools has some parents up in arms…Wo kommst du her? [“Where Do You Come From?”]…is recommended for ages 5 and up [and] shows a couple…in various stages of arousal. In one illustration, Lisa puts a condom on Lars’ erect penis…The text also veers toward the explicit. “When it’s so good that it can’t get any better, Lisa and Lars have an orgasm,” it reads. And…”The vagina and penis feel nice and tingly and warm”…Parents began to complain…but the school did nothing…until it was reported in the local press…

People like to read reviews online before buying a car or reserving a hotel room. But one website, http://www.eccie.net…allows users to review the services of local prostitutes…the idea that you can review prostitutes has a lot of people concerned…Jenny Ford…[of] ACH Child and Family Services…says people posting on sites like this often use kinky sex and prostitution as a cover up for sex trafficking…State Senator Leticia Van De Putte…[has] filed…a bill that go [sic] after the people using them…

Those of you who followed the #whenantisattack hashtag on Twitter back on March 3rd know the sort of abuse sex workers have to put up with; because of her prominence Dr. Brooke Magnanti gets more (and more severe) than most of us, and after a particularly nasty barrage last Saturday she wrote this essay on why it’s so very important that even angry perverts not be censored by “hate speech” laws.

A missing 18-year-old Aurora [Colorado] woman [named Raven Cassidy Furlong]…was found…[after] police received a tip that she was sighted in Venice Beach…at tryouts for American Ninja Warrior…Furlong was taken to the police station [but released] once they ascertained she was in California of her own free will…Her family believes she was coerced into saying she’s OK. “We know what Raven gave was a canned speech…They’ve been coerced to believe their families are bad, this is common in human trafficking,” [said] Shelley Shaffer, Director of the National Women’s Coalition Against Violence & Exploitation…

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t need to be “coerced” into wanting to escape from parents who infantilized me and were willing to use armed thugs to force me to live with them.

Three “gay and effeminate” teens have died after being starved, tortured and killed at a camp that promised to turn them into “men”…Raymond Buys, 15 [died]…in April 2011…just 10 weeks [after he entered] the Echo Wild Game Rangers training course in South Africa in perfect health…Buys was severely malnourished, dehydrated, his arm was broken in two places and there were burns and wounds all over his body…Alex De Koker, 49, and employee Michael Erasmus, 20, are on trial for charges of murder, child abuse and neglect…[tentmate] Gerhard Oostuizen, 19, claims Buys was chained to his bed every night…refused permission to visit the toilet…forced to eat his own faeces…beaten with planks, hosepipes and sticks…[and tased while] tied…to a chair naked with his head covered in a pillowcase…Eric Calitz, 18, and Nicolaas Van Der Walt, 19, had both died after being enrolled at the…camp four years earlier…Calitz…died of…seizure, dehydration and [cerebral hemorrhage, and] Van Der Walt…appeared to have been choked with a seatbelt. In 2009, De Koker was handed a suspended sentence over Calitz but escaped charges for…Van Der Walt, and the camp was allowed to continue…

24 Responses

Is it just me, or does it seem to others who read here that stories of abuse of Gays seem peculiarly limited to abuse by the West? Last I heard the debate on Gay rights in Islamic countries centered around whether to set them on fire or throw them from the minarets of the mosques.

I’m not saying that the subhumans who ran that “camp” don’t deserve to be called out, pilloried, tried, convicted, and hanged. I just feel that there is a resounding silence in the media about the treatment of Gays and Women in Islamic countries.

Also; a thought in passing. The more I think about it the more I am convinced that the answer to the assertion that “Prostitution is degrading to women” is “So is working for McDonald’s, and the pay isn’t as good.”

The news media’s COMPLETE SILENCE on the treatment of gays in Muslim nations is, quite frankly – A CRIME.

The Lame Stream will even throw women under the bus – even their own female reporters in order to advance the Islamic Anti-Western agenda. Countless western women were molested in Egypt and Libya by the “Arab Spring” crowds. They only got casual attention and then, the attacks were blamed universally on the western-backed governments and not the out of control crowd of zealots.

We live in a realistic world of choices – and some of them aren’t good. You can defend what WE have and try to improve it – or you can tear it down and let the other guys enforce what THEY HAVE on you. I actually think that Americans have grown so soft-bellied that we’ve lost sight of what freedom and liberty really is – and, unfortunately – those lessons can only be taught in violent ways. Get ready – it’s coming.

Drachefly & Wilson said exactly what I would’ve; for ANYONE to be horrifically abused (for sexual reasons especially) in an Islamic country is dog bites man; not newsworthy at all unless there’s a unique factor. This kind of treatment is only newsworthy when it happens in countries where that is not the norm.

While that (“dog bites man”) is certainly true, I agree with krulac that our left-leaning media’s failure to report it is willful. The left is determined to force Americans and Europeans to grant Islam and its members all the benefit of doubt implied by “diversity” — even as they wage war against the much-less-harmful Western beliefs they label as “rape culture”. This is the pot calling the kettle black, and those who do it are not to be taken seriously.

Part of it is the belief that cultures have to fix themselves, which is somewhat true. Ultimately, we ourselves can’t fix the rot inside mainstream Islam or the cultures that harbor it. We can encourage the change, we can contain the problem as best we can, but ultimately it’s people inside the thing that must fix it. And no, genocide is not an option.

Part of it is that the Left refuses to agree with xenophobia even when the xenophobia happens to be right, because they can’t stomach happening to agree with people they detest — this is a common human flaw.

Part of it is simply not knowing what the heck to DO about the problem.

Part of it is thinking that problems in other peoples’ cultures are distractions from fixing the problems in ours. Which is somewhat true, sometimes, but a poor reason.

Part of it is thinking that poverty and mistreatment are why the Islamic world is the way it is; that if we stop treating them badly they’ll get over it. Which is, again, SOMEWHAT true. The Islamic hatred for the US in particular has had a fair bit of encouragement through the US’s own short-sighted foreign policies, especially the “support any brutal dictator that keeps the peace with an iron fist and sells us oil” thing. The US isn’t the only one doing this (in fact, pretty much every powerful nation or group of nations has done this) but the US is the biggest fish and thus the easiest to hate.

Part of it is thinking that a better quality of life will inevitably encourage the Islamic world to reject barbaric ideas. Now, in many places, this works; mainstream Islam, however, seems to be one of the few politically powerful forces in the world to successfully resist modernization and to reject improved standards of living.

I think it’s too easy for anti-Leftists to assume malice from their opponents, where actually confusion and stupidity easily explain most of it (as in most human failings, really). The left is simply not organized enough for any kind of conspiracy; look at how much time and effort is spent attacking themselves. Many leftist groups expend the vast majority of their efforts in internecine struggle.

And the last I checked, taking The Nation as my guide (and it’s pretty firmly left), they aren’t against rural Americans, and IIRC they aren’t against Israel in general, just its government and the Haredim.

The only times I can think of that rural America came up were:
– trying to alleviate exploitative working conditions for poor far laborers.
– trying to figure out whether biofuels made economic and environmental sense, including the needs of the farmer
– noting that gun rules which make sense in the city might not be appropriate to the country
– similarly, social services which make sense in high-population-density areas might not make sense in low-population-density areas
– worrying about the ways global climate change would hurt and help farmers
– pointing out that local involvement in conservation efforts is a really good idea and please environmentalists could you stop being so top-down?
– something to do with genetically modified crops, where some farmers were getting hit with lawsuits for using seeds that blew onto their land, or something like that

Now, The Nation doesn’t completely span The Left, but it’s prominent enough that if it violates a generalization you hold about it, it might be a good idea to begin introducing some caveats to that generalization.

I’m not talking about The Nation; I’m talking about the majority of self-described “leftists” & “progressives” writing and broadcasting. To them, rural ≠ farmer; rural = “flyover land” and “red states”, which are subject to the most incredible barrage of bigoted hatespew any time the subject comes up.

what disaster turns people into politicians?i would really like an answer to this one.there should be studies to find out why some people are either so morally bankrupt or so dellusional as to think that theyre doing something good for society.i read a story the other day about sexism at the workplace.it says women from wall street and goldman shacks sued because their male colleagues go to strip clubs and that means they are left out from important meetings.while i understand feeling uncomfortable and being left out from meetings has consequences for their advancement(towards hell), but how can a person find that a strip club degrades you or is morally wrong when they work for people who are basically legal mafia?how making money out of the suffering of so many people is not degrading or morally wrong?do they actually think that theyre doing something good for society?i dont get all theese stories that express their outrage at such a blatant sexism,but the harm that theese type of people do to the world,whether politicians or wall street or goldman shacks executives is overlooked.sex work is a profession that can be entertaining,healing, genuinely helpful to both workers and customers.thats much more to say than the respected work that those career women do.

Awesome comments and … The disparity between men and women goes a lot deeper than just male “espirit de corps” reinforced through strip bars …

Because of the differences between men and women – men only speak in honest terms (the way they think) with other men.

Last night in the bar – off the hook due to Jazzfest. The female bartenders walk in after having worked a booth off-site for a charity event. I great them at the door with … “Hey girls! I notice they sent only the good looking people to the charity event!” Convo is all cordial – all nice.

Then one of the other bouncers walks up to me and HE says … “Fuckin’ ratio is a dream tonight bro!” And I’m like – “you are not shitting dude – do you see that Drew Barrymore clone over there with the huge tits?” And he says … “I have TIT radar – and they appeared on my screen when she stepped through the door – but only for a second, because that racked smoked my radar screen!!” We both had a laugh.

The espirit de corps men share with other men will always be different than it is when shared between men and women.

It’s not really about morality, it’s about being a cutthroat. When you work in that industry you have to get every advantage for yourself that you can, while denying advantages to your enemies (often those enemies are indeed your co-workers).

Even some women who like going to strip clubs and watching naked girls will probably not be invited to these “power lunches” where tips and tactics are discussed. (I know a lady who worked in the finance industry who is quite into naked girls. She has left a string of female ex-lovers behind her, if she were male I’d call her Don Juan.)

So, they attack, knowing that their prudishness will hurt their colleagues (who are their enemies and work competitors).

As someone with regular experience of the legal system as a professional, it’s beyond me why there is even a need for giving “bailiffs” the same powers as police officers.

Over here Court hearings are secured by the police, and the larger Court complexes by private security officers from G4S who have no powers beyond the ordinary citizen to arrest, search, etc.. All searches can only be carried out with the consent of the subject, and when on females should be conducted by a female, in a private room, and there should always be a second officer to witness it and record any objections the subject has made. If you don’t have all those factors present, you don’t do it. Simples.

The guy should never have been employed in that role, he clearly (a) doesn’t know the law, more importantly (b) doesn’t know his relevant powers and (c) doesn’t know the near universal best practice worldwide for searching a person.

Really? The Derby is now the mecca of trafficking? Criminy. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time until we read, “High school ping pong matches draw a lot of trafficking.”

Also, the whenantisattack on Magnanti. I’m wondering if that has to do with the recent article she wrote about her teenage skin problems. It seems they were looking for a weak point (although I think she looks fantastic).

Poverty leaves women (and men) vulnerable to a lot more than sex work. I wish some of these folks would consider that. I mean, if they somehow succeed in taking the sex work away, then what? The women (and men) are still poor. Now what do they need to do that they preferred sex work to?

Clementine Ford actually knows sex workers. Makes all the difference in the world. I’d certainly write a different article now than I would have five years ago, and five years ago I was already for some sort of legalization/decriminalization.

“Obviously, there is no actual crime in Vincent.”
I just had an awful thought: what if part of the reason law enforcement is more and more using anti-gangster and anti-terrorist techniques against prostitution, weed, etc. is because we have less violent crime? They want to keep the money, the toys, the asset forfeiture, but there aren’t many hit men and bomb-builders any more. Some, of course (just ask Boston), but not as many. So do they elevate hooking to the level of trafficking in plutonium so that they can keep the money, power, and toys?

An increase in gambling means an increase in prostitution? I wouldn’t bet a working girl’s wages on that.

Is anybody even claiming that putting children on these lists does any good thing? If it were accomplishing anything good, we could argue about whether or not it’s worth the price, a price paid by the kids themselves. But are we even getting anything for the price they pay?

Meanwhile, cops don’t get put on that registry for rape. Not playing doctor or clumsy mutual groping in some car, but full-on rape. God, but what we need is some good old-fashioned finking.

Torturers get off because they were connected to the last administration. Bankers who break the law are too big to jail. Cops are getting away with murder and rape. Should we be surprised that the multi-tiered approach to justice extends to entire nations?

Only 10% of the hookers at the Kentucky Derby are forced? Because (as everybody knows) willing prostitutes love horse racing. I guess.

Hey, if the laws that let you harass whores are repealed, just enforce them anyway. And they’ll get away with it, too, if the public won’t raise a stink.

Maggie on Twitter

Boring but necessary legal stuff

All original content on this website (i.e. all of my columns, pages and anything else which I write myself) is protected under international copyright law as of the time it is posted; though you may link to it as you please or quote passages (as long as you attribute the quote to me), please do not reproduce whole columns without my express written permission. In other words, you have to say "pretty please with sugar on top" first, and then wait for me to say "okey-dokey".